Toy is a kind of common language for us as we must all have played a certain toy when small. How did toys and toy cultures form our childhood and our memory of it? TV, comics and games are toys’ integral components as well as their extension. The show, Toy as Medium, reflects on the media that come alongside with toys. How much of it has become obsolete, or elements of nostalgia in contemporary pop culture? We also hope this show shares with our expat friends the toys that we grew up with. Do come for a direct gaze into our childhood.

A “dreamscape” from childhood is what our setup aims to recreate – it is vivid, fun and resourceful, resulting from the variety of toys and related artifacts in assemblage. This also generates an alienating reality as the “childhood room” for visitors is built with our knowledge, resources and experience as grown-ups. The toys are the same, but we have already grown out of our younger selves.

Toy as Medium is the return of Floating Projects’ “WCH Assemblage” series, which experiments with space and re-purposing of material objects. After several FP members’ solo shows, we now bring back the group show format, which simply makes sense as the display (spatial) strategy and juxtaposition of each of our own “toy histories” is all about collaboration. Together we push boundaries, perhaps even beyond “toy as medium.”

Our setup begins as another of FP’s assemblage sessions, but completes as spatial intervention. While following a specific plan of formal juxtaposition, our goal is to allow ourselves the room to rethink the possibilities of toy through making and playing on the spot, and to rediscover toy as an artistic medium rooted in daily life. The versatile character of the toy objects also turns art into inter-subjective experiences.